Winter Olympics Thread...aka 2010-2011 FIS thread

[HowardRoark]

Video from today:

http://www.universalsports.com/video/assetid=14b71c77-455f-4a7d-a991-1554b5c46064.html#wc+levi+lindsey+vonn+sl2

[Freak Out]

I'm missing winter a little right now....90+ and 90 percent humidity. Been snowing in Anchorage I hear.

[MJZiggy]

I'm missing winter a little right now....90+ and 90 percent humidity. Been snowing in Anchorage I hear.

See, this is why you belong in Alaska. It's 60 here and that 90+ sounds very good to me right now.

[HowardRoark]

Chicks downhill this weekend in Canada.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47d4n...ayer_embedded#!

[HowardRoark]

[HowardRoark]

http://www.universalsports.com/video/assetid=2ea2bb49-12ed-4475-976f-5e1b7594adc3.html

[HowardRoark]

Sat Dec 11, 2010 7:31am EST

Dec 11 (Reuters) - Official first run result of a men's
World Cup giant slalom race from Val d'Isere on Saturday.

Run 1
1. Ted Ligety (U.S.) 1min 11.37secs
2. Aksel Lund Svindal (Norway) 1:11.63
3. Massimiliano Blardone (Italy) 1:12.01
4. Marcel Hirscher (Austria) 1:12.49
5. Benjamin Raich (Austria) 1:12.59
6. Carlo Janka (Switzerland) 1:12.96
7. Davide Simoncelli (Italy) 1:13.03
8. Kjetil Jansrud (Norway) 1:13.36
8. Sandro Viletta (Switzerland) 1:13.36
10. Thomas Fanara (France) 1:13.40
11. Gauthier De Tessieres (France) 1:13.47
12. Ivica Kostelic (Croatia) 1:13.50
13. Cyprien Richard (France) 1:13.51
14. Markus Larsson (Sweden) 1:13.75
15. Felix Neureuther (Germany) 1:13.79
16. Manfred Moelgg (Italy) 1:13.94
17. Didier Cuche (Switzerland) 1:13.99
18. Steve Missillier (France) 1:14.06
19. Marc Berthod (Switzerland) 1:14.07
20. Ondrej Bank (Czech Republic) 1:14.21
21. Truls Ove Karlsen (Norway) 1:14.43
22. Romed Baumann (Austria) 1:14.55
23. Robbie Dixon (Canada) 1:14.65
24. Hannes Reichelt (Austria) 1:14.84
25. Florian Eisath (Italy) 1:14.87
26. Kalle Palander (Finland) 1:14.89
26. Christoph Noesig (Austria) 1:14.89
28. Silvan Zurbriggen (Switzerland) 1:15.08
29. Fritz Dopfer (Germany) 1:15.24
30. Michael Gufler (Italy) 1:15.33

(Compiled by Infostrada Sports; Editing by Toby Davis)

[HowardRoark]

Lindsey just won the Down Hill in Val D'Isere

http://www.universalsports.com/video/assetid=fe9a3c7c-ae9c-4dad-bf80-4c9460503815.html#2010+val+disere+lindsey+vonn+dh

http://www.universalsports.com/video/assetid=fe9a3c7c-ae9c-4dad-bf80-4c9460503815.html#2010+val+disere+lindsey+vonn+dh

[mraynrand]

Sat Dec 11, 2010 7:31am EST

Dec 11 (Reuters) - Official first run result of a men's
World Cup giant slalom race from Val d'Isere on Saturday.

Run 1
1. Ted Ligety (U.S.) 1min 11.37secs

What were Ligety's splits?

[swede]

What were Ligety's splits?

Whenever I laugh out loud while reading a post and somebody in the house wants to know what I'm laughing about and I show them they rarely think it's funny.

I told my son it's funnier when Rand tells it.

[HowardRoark]

What were Ligety's splits?

Lickety Splits in red:

The French were hopeful. Thomas Fanara had thrown himself down the Gran Risa slope at Alta Badia, recording the fastest second run time and had moved into first place. Cyprien Richard had won the first run and still sat in the start house. But Ted Ligety never blinked and the French hopes were dashed.

Ligety had been the only racer with a realistic chance to unseat Richard, sitting just .15 back after one.

He is on a roll and confident and charged his way to take Fanara by a half second. It looked, momentarily, as if Richard might manage to hold off the American as he had moved in front half way down the tough, icy flanks. Then he ran into trouble, bobbled slighty, and slid into second, .14 behind the red bib. Ligety had won his third straight GS and preserved what so far is a perfect GS record. The Frenchmen were second and third.

"This is a dream come true," said Ligety in the finish, "Especially with three in a row. I just feel really lucky to have won today because Cyprien was the best skier today. He made the mistake and I just got lucky in that sense."

He said the hill was "crazy, crazy icy," and said his "secret" was good physical conditioning and and great skis.

It is Ligety's eighth career World Cup win all coming in GS. While he had skied well previously at Alta Badia - considered by many to be the consummate GS of the World Cup tour - he had not previously made a GS podium at the site. He becomes the second American to ever win an Alta Badia GS, the other being Bode Miller in 2002. Ligety did podium in two slaloms at Alta Badia (2006&2007)

There were some interesting results behind the leaders. Bibs from way back in the pack placed well, with Norwegian Leif Kristian Haugen and another French, Thomas Frey, coming from the 62nd and 57th starts respectively to place 11th and 12th.

Bode Miller, the only North American outside of Ligety to make a second run, finished 15th.

Gepa photo.

More to come

The SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Equipment
Men's World Cup GS, Alta Badia, Italy, Dec. 19, 2010
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Ligety, Head/Head/Head
2 Richard, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
3 Fanara, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
4 Cuche, Head/Head/Head
5 Bank, Elan/Nordica/Elan
6 Svindal, Head/Head/Head
7 Olsson, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8 DeTessieres, Head/Head/Head
9 Goergl, Fischer/Lange/Fischer
10 Simoncelli, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon

Men's World Cup Giant Slalom, Alta Badia, Italy, Dec. 19, 2010. ... It is the 12th race of the men's 138 race 2010-2011 World Cup schedule. ... the tenth to be held. ... It is the fourth GS on the slate and third held with the opener at Soelden having been canceled. .... It is the 26th Cup race hosted by Alta Badia. ... The 22nd GS. ... Finn Kalle Palander and Italian Alberto Tomba are the three time winners of GS's at the site.

It is the eighth career World Cup win for Ted Ligety, all in GS, and his third of the season having swept all three GS's held to date. ... It is the 216th U.S. World Cup win and fifth of the season (sixth including Lindsey Vonn's win the same day in Val d'Isere). ... Ligety is eighth all-time on the U.S. win list and is one win behind both Steve Mahre and Picabo Street.

It is the third career World Cup podium for Cyprien Richard, all in GS, and his second at Alta Badia having been third last season.

It is the first career World cup podium for GS specialist Thomas Fanara. ... best previous result had been fifth, twice, at Adelboden in 2006 and Soelden in 2008.

It is the sixth scoring result of the season for Bode Miller, five of them placings between eight and 17.

Ligety takes over the lead of the World Cup overall standings 321-315 over Silvan Zurbriggen (did not qualify for 2nd run). ... Didier Cuche (4th in race) and Michael Walchhofer (did not race) are third with 294pts each. ... Eric Guay is top Canadian overall in 24th with 106pts. ... Ligety leads the GS standings 300-165 over Aksel Lund Svindal (6th in race). ... Richard is third with 142pts. ... Jean-Philippe Roy (did not qualify for 2nd run) is the top Canadian in 32nd place with 14pts.

Austria leads the men's Nations Cup 1798-1255 over Switzerland. ... France is third with 856pts. ... Canada is sixth with 501pts and the U.S. seventh with 470pts.
Place Alta
Badia (ITA) Discipline Giant Slalom
Date 19.12.2010 Category FIS World Cup
Race codex 0768 Gender M
Valid for FIS Points YES TD Name Tiefenthaler Manfred (AUT)


Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Run 1 Run 2 Total Time FIS Points
1 6 534562 LIGETY Ted 1984 USA 1:17.84 1:14.15 2:31.99 0.00
2 9 191423 RICHARD Cyprien 1979 FRA 1:17.69 1:14.44 2:32.13 0.80
3 19 191750 FANARA Thomas 1981 FRA 1:18.66 1:13.88 2:32.54 3.15
4 11 510030 CUCHE Didier 1974 SUI 1:18.86 1:14.29 2:33.15 6.64
5 23 150398 BANK Ondrej 1980 CZE 1:18.89 1:14.40 2:33.29 7.44
6 7 421328 SVINDAL Aksel Lund 1982 NOR 1:18.49 1:14.82 2:33.31 7.56
7 39 501324 OLSSON Matts 1988 SWE 1:19.31 1:14.41 2:33.72 9.90
8 28 191746 DE TESSIERES Gauthier 1981 FRA 1:19.72 1:14.08 2:33.80 10.36
9 35 50600 GOERGL Stephan 1978 AUT 1:19.45 1:14.53 2:33.98 11.39
10 10 292120 SIMONCELLI Davide 1979 ITA 1:19.88 1:14.11 2:33.99 11.45
11 62 421669 HAUGEN Leif Kristian 1987 NOR 1:19.93 1:14.48 2:34.41 13.85
12 57 192653 FREY Thomas 1984 FRA 1:20.28 1:14.15 2:34.43 13.97
13 8 292491 MOELGG Manfred 1982 ITA 1:20.29 1:14.36 2:34.65 15.23
14 13 290693 PLONER Alexander 1978 ITA 1:19.47 1:15.27 2:34.74 15.74
15 32 532431 MILLER Bode 1977 USA 1:19.60 1:15.25 2:34.85 16.37
16 30 201702 NEUREUTHER Felix 1984 GER 1:20.77 1:14.12 2:34.89 16.60
17 5 421483 JANSRUD Kjetil 1985 NOR 1:20.14 1:14.76 2:34.90 16.66
18 3 53831 HIRSCHER Marcel 1989 AUT 1:20.66 1:14.31 2:34.97 17.06
19 41 202462 DOPFER Fritz 1987 GER 1:20.45 1:14.76 2:35.21 18.43
20 17 380260 KOSTELIC Ivica 1979 CRO 1:20.70 1:14.67 2:35.37 19.35
21 42 53853 SIEBER Bjoern 1989 AUT 1:20.75 1:14.67 2:35.42 19.63
22 45 990048 BORSOTTI Giovanni 1990 ITA 1:20.42 1:15.09 2:35.51 20.15
23 20 192506 MISSILLIER Steve 1984 FRA 1:20.26 1:15.27 2:35.53 20.26
23 15 51007 SCHOERGHOFER Philipp 1983 AUT 1:19.78 1:15.75 2:35.53 20.26
25 21 420148 KARLSEN Truls Ove 1975 NOR 1:20.38 1:15.33 2:35.71 21.29
26 2 511313 JANKA Carlo 1986 SUI 1:19.20 1:16.80 2:36.00 22.95
27 18 511352 VILETTA Sandro 1986 SUI 1:20.86 1:15.66 2:36.52 25.93
28 25 500656 LARSSON Markus 1979 SWE 1:20.10 1:16.52 2:36.62 26.50

[Freak Out]

Universal Sports is great....a local over the air HD station carries all of their World Cup races a day late.

[Freak Out]

The Vonn win is impressive in typical fashion....almost crashes and still wins.

[HowardRoark]

The Vonn win is impressive in typical fashion....almost crashes and still wins.

She just won again........leading WC

Sun Dec 19, 2010 10:49am EST

VAL D'ISERE, France (Reuters) - Lindsey Vonn fought her way back to the top of the Alpine ski World Cup standings with her second win in two days at Val d'Isere on Sunday.

Vonn, overshadowed by her great friend and rival Maria Riesch in the North American races at the start of the season, won a super-combined race a day after winning a downhill on the same OK piste.

The double victory, her first in the French resort where she won her downhill world title in 2009, gave her a three-point lead over Riesch in the overall standings.

"It's more important in terms of my morale than in terms of points," said Vonn, a triple World Cup champion.

Austria's Elisabeth Goergl, third last winter in the same race, placed one better this year 0.32 seconds behind the American's time of two minutes 7.80 seconds.

Former World Cup champion Nicole Hosp, also of Austria, confirmed her return to form with third place, 0.39 off the pace.

Riesch, the slalom and super-combined Olympic champion, was fifth after a bad super-G leg.

The German, whose downhill was ruined by a sudden gust of wind, had problems with her skis on Sunday and said: "I just can't keep them in line."

Riesch was flown by helicopter to Baden Baden after the race to receive a trophy as the best German athlete of 2010 but will be back in France on Tuesday for a slalom in Courchevel, hoping to recapture the World Cup lead from Vonn in arguably her best event.

Whatever the outcome, the two skiers will, as usual, spend Christmas together.

[HowardRoark]

Skiing in Munich today.....

Munich, Germany - Over 10,000 people are expected to be on hand Sunday night as American ski racers Bode Miller, Lindsey Vonn, Ted Ligety and Julia Mancuso will go head-to-head with the top racers on the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup tour during a unique parallel slalom at Munich Olympic Park.


The top 15 men and women in the overall World Cup starting list points earned the invitation to battle for World Cup points and over $100,000 in prize money.

"I'm definitely looking forward to it and am really excited about the event," said Vonn, a three-time World Cup overall champion who resides in Vail, Colo. "With it being right in the city, there's going to be a huge crowd of people that maybe wouldn't have a chance to see the excitement of ski racing live – it's going to be great for our sport."

"I’m pretty excited about a duel," added Mancuso, of Olympic Valley, Calif. "I don’t know what it’s going to be like, but I think it will be a good show and exciting and fun to watch."

Perched at the southern edge of 1972 Olympic Summer Games venue, a hill was constructed in 1945 using remaining debris from the Second World War bombings. That hill, measuring 200 meters long has become the 20-gate race venue with the finish spilling into the upper section of the drained Olympic Lake.

"Over 10,000 tickets, along with more than 1,500 VIP tickets, have already been sold for the premiere City Event in Munich. The slope is excellent condition following the pre-Christmas thaw and has been injected during this week's cold period," said Günter Hujara, FIS Chief Race Director for the men's Alpine World Cup.

The first parallel slaloms at Olympic Park were held in 1986 and 1987, when over 50,000 people watched races with stars such as German Olympic downhill gold medalist Marina Kiehl, six-time World Champion Erika Hess of Switzerland and Tamara McKinney, the last American woman to win an overall World Cup title before Vonn. Yet, on those occasions there was only one competition which featured female skiers and no World Cup points were awarded.

Sunday will be a first for the women's tour. With World Cup points on the line, women's racers are understandably nervous.

"It's tough because I've never raced a parallel event before," said Vonn, who trails German favorite Maria Riesch in overall points. "This could theoretically change the outcome of the overall title."

The last time a parallel was held in Vienna, but was scored only for Nations Cup points.

Miller and Ligety are experienced with the head-to-head format having raced the past two seasons in the exhibition events held in Moscow.

"The scene was awesome," said Ligety, after finishing third in the Moscow event last season just ahead of Miller. "People were packed all around the base of the ramp. They had Euro techno blasting and fireworks shooting out the side of the ramp scaffolding after the competition. It was such a sweet event to be invited to."

Munich will be the first time Ligety has returned to racing since Dec. 19, when he captured his third consecutive World Cup giant slalom win of the season, completing a sweep in that event over the first half of the winter.

The natural slope of the Olympic hill will certainly not have the same feel as industrial scaffold high above the street as it was in Moscow, but it will certainly provide a high energy venue for athletes and fans as live DJ's and bands mix with ski racing